Clear Away the Cobwebs of Convention

October 1, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins on the evening of September 29. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is a philosophical poem about the eternal nature of the past.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Clear away the cobwebs of convention!

Atonement’s not as simple as it seems.

A deed, once done, is stone, beyond redemption,

More absolute than anyone might dream.

Oh, yes, one still should pray to be forgiven,

And try with all one's love to make things right.

But what one does, by faith or passion driven,

Becomes a stela in the morning light.

The past cannot be changed – it is forever,

Eternally defining who one is.

Time may seem as fluid as a river,

But once past, is a graveyard sunk in mist.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/clear3.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement

September 25: Holiness and Faith Are the Rewards

September 26: How Might I, in Faith, Do as You Ask

September 27: You’d Like a Shot at Serious Redemption

September 28: You Are Not, Will Not, Do Not What You Dream

September 29: You Cannot Be the Person You Might Wish

September 30: I Sing to You When Words Are Not Enough

October 1: Clear Away the Cobwebs of Convention

I Sing to You When Words Are Not Enough

September 30, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins on the evening of September 29.  The ten days between Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is about the music of prayer.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

I sing to You when words are not enough,

When my heart’s so full they flow into a song,

When I lose myself in love, and what I say

Must be as beautiful as what I feel.

Your words must be music.

I hear it in prayer.

It is through its beauty

I know that You’re there.

I sing to You when words are not enough,

When all I am must turn to melody

To tell You all the things I want to tell You,

The truth of me, which You already know.

Your words must be music,

Your thoughts must be song.

I hear it while singing

And follow along.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/isingt.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement

September 25: Holiness and Faith Are the Rewards

September 26: How Might I, in Faith, Do as You Ask

September 27: You’d Like a Shot at Serious Redemption

September 28: You Are Not, Will Not, Do Not What You Dream

September 29: You Cannot Be the Person You Might Wish

September 30: I Sing to You When Words Are Not Enough

You Cannot Be the Person You Might Wish

September 29, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins on the evening of September 29.  The ten days between Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is a poem for Yom Kippur about the interplay between ritual, self, and expectation.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

You cannot be the person you might wish,

Opening the door to who you are.

Morning comes alike to fowl and fish,

Kindled by a mystery from afar.

In you there is a music all your own

Pouring through the sluices of your heart,

Passionate with love as you atone,

Unmoored from self by ritual and art,

Restored to some bright whole not yours alone.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/youca3.html. For more poems for Yom Kippur, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement

September 25: Holiness and Faith Are the Rewards

September 26: How Might I, in Faith, Do as You Ask

September 27: You’d Like a Shot at Serious Redemption

September 28: You Are Not, Will Not, Do Not What You Dream

September 29: You Cannot Be the Person You Might Wish

You Are Not, Will Not, Do Not What You Dream

September 28, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins on the evening of September 29. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is a poem for Yom Kippur about the desire to be known and loved by God.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

You are not, will not, do not what you dream.

One accepts that one cannot be pure.

Moreover, there are sins you should redeem.

Kindness, however, makes you feel secure.

In you there is a longing to be known,

Peered right through, as sun lights up a room,

Perhaps just as you promise to atone,

Understood and loved while your doom

Remains clay, not yet hardened into stone.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/youar9.html. For more poems for Yom Kippur, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement

September 25: Holiness and Faith Are the Rewards

September 26: How Might I, in Faith, Do as You Ask

September 27: You’d Like a Shot at Serious Redemption

September 28: You Are Not, Will Not, Do Not What You Dream

You'd Like a Shot at Serious Redemption

September 27, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins on the evening of September 29. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is a poem for Yom Kippur about the difficulty of true repentance and redemption.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

You'd like a shot at serious redemption,

Only, like us all, you have no clue.

Mostly satisfied, you leave your pew

Knowing that you've satisfied convention

Instead of being some more painful you.

Perhaps there is no other truth than this;

Perhaps the yearning must be unfulfilled.

Unredeemed, you pay your debts as billed,

Returning to a life that dreams of bliss.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/youdli.html. For more poems for Yom Kippur, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement

September 25: Holiness and Faith Are the Rewards

September 26: How Might I, in Faith, Do as You Ask

September 27: You’d Like a Shot at Serious Redemption

How Might I, in Faith, Do as You Ask

September 26, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins on the evening of September 29.  The ten days between Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is a poem for the High Holy Days about the desire to repent free of religious convention.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

How might I, in faith, do as You ask?

Innocent, I hung upon Your Word,

Great with the intention to be good.

However, here we go a different way.

How might I remove the righteous mask,

Opening my heart to the absurd,

Letting go what shibboleths I would,

Yet holding on to what I have to say.

Deliver me, then, naked to this task,

And turn away, Whom I so long have served.

Yearning to repent, as well I should,

So let me see myself in my own gaze.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/howmi5.html. For more poems for the High Holy Days, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement

September 25: Holiness and Faith Are the Rewards

September 26: How Might I, in Faith, Do as You Ask

Holiness and Faith Are the Rewards

September 25, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins on the evening of September 29. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is a poem for the High Holy Days about how religious behavior can often precede and ignite religious faith.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Holiness and faith are the rewards:

In doing lies the promise of becoming.

Given what a life of faith affords,

How could one not still be in the running?

Holy days are opportunities,

Open doors to being who one would.

Longing to be touched by grace, one sees

Yet one more chance to choose the wished-for good.

Do not think that faith is ever certain:

All one's life, like love, it comes and goes.

Yet one can always stand before the curtain,

Singing for one's soul the prayers one knows.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/holin2.html. For more poems for the High Holy Days, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement

September 25: Holiness and Faith Are the Rewards